Auburn woman pleads guilty to murdering 4-month-old daughter

AUBURN, Wash. -- An Auburn woman charged with murder in the 2016 death of her 4-month-old daughter pleaded guilty and was sentenced Thursday to 12.5 years in prison, according to the King County Prosecutor's Office.

Mariah Phillips, 27, and the baby's father, Lee Dupay, 37, were charged with second-degree murder in July 2016. Dupay pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 14.5 years in prison.

Police said Phillips and Dupay waited at least 45 minutes to call 911 after they found the girl non-responsive, and an autopsy found the child had multiple rib fractures and was in an “obvious state of malnourishment and dehydration.”

The autopsy found the girl weighed 8.2 pounds at the time of her death, four months after she was born at 6.5 pounds.

Phillips allegedly told police that lesions found around the girl’s lips and under her chin were caused when Dupay bit her, “suspending (the baby) in the air with his mouth for several minutes, his top teeth embedded into her lips and his bottom teeth into her chin.”

Phillips also said Dupay had hit the girl in the head and stepped on her when she was lying in bed.

According to court documents, Phillips worked as a courier and said she would bring the baby – and the rest of her children – along with her as she worked. She said the infant spent seven days a week, 10 hours a day in her car seat.

Police said when they arrived at the house, they found feces and “biological waste” on the floor.

Editor's note: The video below is from 2016 when the couple were charged with murder.